Apparatus for feeding tobacco for making cigarettes and for other purposes



0% 19 9 mm v mm m F. F. RUAU APPARATUS FOR FEEDING TOBACCO FOR MAKING CIGARETTES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Filed March 15, 1926 Patented 0st. 19, 1926.

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UNETED STATES PATENT @FFTQE.

FELIX FREDERIC RUA'U, OF DEPTFORD, LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING TOBACCO FOB, IWAKING' CIGARETTES AIND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Application filed March 15, 1926, Serial No. 94,918, and in Great Britain January 21, 1926.

This invention is for improvements in a hopper apparatus for feeding tobacco to cigarette making machines and more particularly to an improved back plate for use in connection with such apparatus, and has for its object the provision of means whereby the level of the tobacco is maintained constant in the hopper of a cigarette making machine.

The present invention consists of a back plate, for use in a hopper apparatus for feeding tobacco to a cigarette making machine, which is adapted to continuously oscillate towards and away from the feedmg mechanism whilst its mean position is simultaneously advanced towards said mechanism.

Further the present invention consists of a hopper apparatus for feeding tobacco to a cigarette making machine wherein the back plate thereof is adapted to oscillate continu-ously towards and away from the feeding mechanism whilst its mean position is simultaneously advanced towards said mechanism.

It has previously been proposced to pivot the back plate of a hopper apparatus so that is is movable towards the feeding mechanism and to connect the free end of the back plate to a gravity operated mechanism so that pressure is continuously exerted upon tobacco located between the back plate and the feeding mechanism.

Also it has been proposed to pivotally mount the back-plate of a hopper so that it is movable towards the feeding mechanism and actuate the same so that it oscillates between two fixed points towards and away from the said feeding mechanism.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 illustrates one method of carrying the invention into effect, and

Fig. 2 is a modified construction of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, tobacco is placed in the back of the hopper 1 and the back plate 2 thereof, is held in its rearmost position by the weight 27. As the cigarette making machine is operated, tobacco is fed by the belt 3, to the combing roller 4, upon which it is brushed by the roller 5, which removes any surplus tobacco from the surface thereof. The tobacco is 55 conveyed upon the combing roller 4 beneath a comb 6, whereupon a picker roller 7 transfers the tobacco from the combing roller 4 on to the surface of a distributor 8, in the form of a belt, from which the tobacco is removed by a picker roller 9 into the throat 10 of a cigarette making machine.

The back plate 2 is pivotally mounted at its lower end and is oscillated towards and away from the combing roller 1 by an arm 11, which is connected at one end to a crank 12 adapted to rotate about its axis. The arm 11 is provided at its free end with ratchet teeth 13 which engage with the free end of the back plate 2. As the machine is operated, a link 14 connected to a ratchet sector 16, is periodically moved forward by a pawl 15 actuated from the main drive of the machine so as to vary the inclination of the back plate 2. As the link 14 moves the back plate 2 forward, the top edge of the back plate engages with a different ratchet tooth on the arm 11, and conse quently the back plate is continuously oscillated arid is also simultaneously moved to wards the surface of the combing roller 4:.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 2 the back plate 2 is connected to a sector 17 which is adapted to rotate freely upon a spindle 18. The toothed sec tor 17 is adapted to engage with a toothed wheel 19 which is secured to a ratchet 20 adapted to be rotated by means of a pawl 21 operated through the medium of the crank 22 and spring 28. The spindle of the pinion wheel 19 is connected to a lever 26 which is pivotally secured to an arm 24, secured at its free end upon a crank 25. As the crank 25 moves about its centre it causes the lever 26 to fulcrum about the spindle 18 and oscillate the sector 17 through the medium of the pinion wheel 19. The oscillatory movement of the sector 17 is imparted to the back plate 2. Periodically the crank 22 moves the pawl 21 so as to rotate the ratchet wheel 20 and thereby vary the inclination of the back plate 2.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A hopper apparatus for feeding tobacco to a cigarette making machine wherein the back plate is adapted to be continuously oscillated towards and away from the feeding mechanism Whilst its mean position is sinmltaneously advanced towards the said mechanism.

2 A hopper apparatus for feeding tobacco to a cigarette making machine wherein the back plate of the hopper is constantly oscillated towards and away from the feeding mechanism, Whilst its mean position is 10 FELIX FREDERIG RUAU. 

